The mystery of the missing gum

By Leda Chaves

On that day, Margarida had left work very joyful because it was a dance class day and also day to eat carrot cake in the Coffee with the Angels diner. How she had come late to work she stayed untill 6PM, instead of staying until 5 pm as usual to compensate the morning delay. When she left work she took a special taxi to get to the Tiradentes Square. The taxi driver that day was great, very polite and in a good mood. Oh how nice it was when she could get close to people in good mood!

Margarida down the Afonso Pena Avenue wondering if she still could eat a piece of cake even though she was late. The taxi stopped at a great place and Margarida went out sprightly and fully satisfying and went for the carrot cake she was dreaming about so much. How surprised she was when she arrived there and found a brand new cake waiting for her nearly intact. She looked at the cake full of joy. She asked for a piece and the usual espresso coffee without sugar. She chose a table further back and sat facing the door of the diner to appreciate the events of the evening.

They always served a very generous piece, with plenty of chocolate syrup. "Hmmm ... what a delight!" thought Margarida looking at the cake when the waitress had just brought the coffee. She enjoyed each piece of the cake as nice as it was, thinking about how that place was very nice. How great it was being able to sit there and watch the night fall while the cars piled in when the signal turned red in the Brazil Avenue. She loved the moments she spent there, dreaming about her trip. When Margarida was there, she became inspired and ended up writing something. Sometimes she wrote a poem, sometimes she wrote a short article. It was a time of almost sublime creation, when Margarida took refuge inside herself and stayed very quiet enjoying that moment of her own.

On that day, Margarida wrote nothing. She ate cake, drank her coffee and went to pay the bill. She always bought gum because she would go straight to dance class and she didn't want her teeth to be dirty. Margarida loved the grey box gum, watermelon flavor with lemon. It was good, it refreshed her breath.

She left the diner chewing her gum and headed to her class of samba de gafieira. She always tried to walk elegantly and when it was time to cross the Afonso Pena Avenue, she passed in front of the headlights of the cars as if on a catwalk parade and came across glorious. When she got to the other side of that large avenue she was very happy as she headed to the academy.

Margarida was delighted with the spectacle that the city became in the evening. She went on her way to the samba’s class which was very close just around the corner of Gonçalves Dias Street and Pernambuco Street. Margarida loved samba and she loved the staff of the academy. They were all very friendly and cheerful. What a delight it was to have classes there!

She arrived early as usual in the academy. It was18:30 and she stayed there till her class which started at 19:30. Margarida went to the balcony, and while waiting, she talked animatedly with other colleagues who were also waiting. She was still chewing on that gum. When the gum hadtotally lost its flavor, Margarida walked toward the trash to throw it away. When she was near the trash, she put her fingers into her mouth and pulled the gum out. And exactly at that moment, Rodrigão, one of the monitors of the school, passed very close by her and she got scared and the gum fell down. She stopped immediately to avoid the risk of stepping in the gum. She looked around and nothing. She stepped to the side and she couldn’t see anything. She looked at her clothes to see if the gum had been stuck and nothing. "Guys, where is the gum?? Is someone seeing the gum? "She looked at the floor again. She bent down to see a little better because it was dark. The gum was gone. Then Margarida thought: "Ohhh maybe it got stuck at the Rodrigão’s foot or on his clothes! Ihhh!" She looked inside the room where Rodrigão was and watched from afar to look for the gum. Margarida was very worried and was trying so hard to find the gum that Najela, one of the teachers, became very intrigued and asked to Margarida: "What are you looking for?" Then Margarida said: "I'm trying to solve the mystery of the missing gum!" Then Najela also began to look at Rodrigão who ended up being bothered. He looked at both with an interrogation face from far and asked what was wrong. The teacher asked him for a ride in order to look up if the gum was stuck on him and no sign of the gum. It seemed that the gum had sublimated as naphthalene. And Margarida who was very worried started feeling terribly guilty. She thought: "Guys, where has that gum gone?" Then she looked again to her own clothes and asked her colleagues to look at and nobody saw nothing. It was a mystery.

She looked again at the floor of the balcony to see if the gum had gotten somewhere. She didn’t want anyone to accidentally step in that gum. So after much searching she gave up and went to talk to Tati, a colleague who had just arrived. They were leaning on the railing of the balcony talking about the pictures of the presentation of samba they had done last december and the photos that were taken the day after the presentation with the same costume they had worn during the presentation.

Margarida told excitedly how much she had enjoyed everything and how happy she was to see the photos had turned out great. Then at one point, Margarida raised her right arm, gesturing at something, and saw them gum! "Folks, the gum appeared!" She exclaimed relieved.

Well, the damned gum was stuck in the band, outside of her arm in a way that Margarida did not see because every time she looked at herself she put her arms up to see her clothes better.

"Ufff, finally the gum appeared!" She sighed doubly relieved that the gum had not stuck neither on her nor on Rodrigão clothes. She took the adventurer chewed bubble gum and threw it into the trash. She waved to Najela warning that the mystery was finally solved. Najela laughed and warned her that the lesson was about to begin.

And then, Margarida went to the hall to live another happy moment of her life...